How to clip a rabbit’s nails without making them too angry at you?

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Well Lately I have been on really good terms with Fern AND Thistle because I skipped a month clipping their nails. Well it’s that time again and It makes me sad when Fern is upset with me!

I can clip the nails fine and all, I have never clipped the quick or anything. 

How can I make this as little scary as possible for the buns? I also want to have something that gives them a sign that it is clipping time, so that Fern does not assiciate me coming upstairs in the middle of the day to a nail clip.

Should I like be holding a towel or something so that Fern will only get suspicious of me when I am holding a towel?

I do give them treats before and after, and Thistle is fine, but I think Fern gets scared (she does not struggle or anything, she just sits there quietly like she is scared).

I Only Flip the buns over for one of the feet. I don’t like flipping them over because it makes ME nervous that they will kick and hurt themselves. Would trancing them for every foot be less stressfull to them? I don’t think so but you never know.

Basically how can I make the buns less stressed during nail clipping so that they will be less angry at me afterwards?

[kralspace]

take them to the vet and let them be mad at them!

-signed, A Coward

[Monkeybun]

When it’s M&M’s time for nail trims, I take them to the monthly RA outreach and let them do it for me lol. They trance for all feet, and most bunnies brought in do very well for it all.

[Elrohwen]

I am with kralspace on this one – vet time!

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Haha I was hoping to not have to go to the vet just because I think it is just too darn expensive getting them clipped at the vet’s once a month! Our vet charges around $15 per bunny.

[kralspace]

same here Moonlightwolf. I’ve been disciplining myself to do it, with 5 bunnies, that’s a lot of money and carrying back and forth. Sometimes they do Toby’s for free when they trim his teeth so I luck out there.

I made up my mind with the others that this was silly, I’m 5’10 and 240 lbs for pete’s sake and I’m scared of the little bitty bunny….lol. or worse, scared of making the ittle bitty bunny mad at me. When I’m feeling brave I pick up whoever’s available and do a foot while they’re tranced. Except Lola, that takes 2 people because she’ll bite while tranced and not in a good place.

One day I WILL do all four feet on a rabbit at one sitting!

[LoveChaCha]

I have a friend help me out. She has my bunny on her lap, and waits til she calms down. She holds ChaCha and sticks out one paw at a time and we work from there.

What color are your bunnies quicks? You might need a flash light to see the quicks. ChaCha’s quicks are dark brown..

I haven’t clipped her quick…

I give her a treat afterward. She has stopped thumping after ward. I guess she knows clipping her nails are for her own good lol.

[RabbitPam]

kralspace,
With 5 bunnies, by the time I was done chasing down all of them, it would be a month later and time to start over with the first one!

Bunnies will get mad at you. They are moody. They get over it faster with treats. But they can pout for days over weird things. Don’t take it personally. You may notice they are able to run and play much more easily with trimmed nails, which they like. So they don’t want to admit it was worth it.

[bunnnnnnie!]

Well this is what I do, but I am also BLESSED with a bun who doesn’t really seem to care about nail clipping.

1, I pet Zeus and get him all relaxed and happy (eyes half closed and everything)

2, I pet down his shoulder and rub his paw while petting his head still.

3, I hold his paw and pet it for a minute, then let go and just pet head head some more (approach and retreat)

4, I go back down once he’s 100% relaxed and hold the paw, clip ONE nail.  Then go back to petting his head, lots of praise.

5, Repeat this process until all nails on that paw are trimmed.

I only trim one paw at a time, MAYBE two if he’s really acting super-relaxed.  Then the next day or in 2 days I do another paw.

I find this way doesn’t overwhelm him, and things are kept very low-key.  Like I said though he was good about it to begin with.  I’m very lucky that way.

[RabbitPam]

binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/MonthlyMai…fault.aspx

Here’s a link to the Monthly Maintenance page on BB that talks about how to trim nails. Just scroll down.

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Thanks guys, I think I’ll try some of those tips.

Bunnnnnie do you just clip your bunny’s nails while he is on the floor? How do you get to his back feet, do you pull then out from underneath him?

[Elrohwen]

Our vet also charges $15 a bunny and it’s highway robbery. I figure they’ve earned it with Hannah, but Otto is so good for them now. I try to stretch it out to at least 6 weeks so I’m not going every month. Apparently they have a discount if you bring in 3 or more pets, so if anyone lives near me we can pool our bunnies together for nail trims! Haha

I’m really hoping to start doing Otto’s nails ourselves this year because he’s become sooo much better about being picked up. But he hates having his feet touched while you’re holding him (if anything touches his back feet, he kicks out trying to escape), so I’m not sure how it will go. Burritos have never worked – probably because we’re not good enough at getting him wrapped up quickly before he escapes.

[Author]

Messages